


Ren? Akira?

by Emitsu



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Basically no one here can decide if his name is Ren or Akira, Parody, Parody fic because this discussion is giving me a headache
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-02
Updated: 2018-01-02
Packaged: 2019-02-27 09:28:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13245354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emitsu/pseuds/Emitsu
Summary: Akechi frowned. “Okay. Let me sum this up. Starting today, Akira-kun as well as a few of your friends and acquaintances suddenly started calling him Ren Amamiya, but from Akira-kun's and those friends' perspective, others - me included - suddenly call him Akira Kurusu?”  | Ren Amamiya or Akira Kurusu? The fandom can't decide, and neither can our dear Persona 5 characters.





	Ren? Akira?

**Author's Note:**

> Warning, small rant incoming- If you're not interested in that just skip to the chapter ^^"  
> Oh my god, I can't believe I actually did this, but I'm really a bit upset over this whole thing lol. For those who haven't caught up yet or are lucky enough to not notice this storm: The P5 protagonist's official (anime) name got revealed in a recent live stream and it's Ren Amamiya. Now 80% of the fandom is pissed because Atlus changed the name from the manga, because it isn't like they haven't done that two times before already, ahaha...  
> No, seriously guys. Not at one point have I ever believed they are gonna use the manga name as the anime name. Which is why I was super reluctant to call him that in my fics. Anyone who read my fic "trickster" may remember my rant about the name Akira Kurusu because, let's say I wasn't a fan of it at all when I first found it. Okay, I hated it so much I refused to call him anything but Joker and was impatiently waiting for the day he finally gets his official name. By now I obviously got used to it. I got used to a name I hated. I even started liking it. Which is why I'm absolutely shocked by the amount of open hate not only the name but ATLUS are getting for giving it to the P5 protag. People say they want to burn down Atlus. Even if that's a joke (doesn't always sound like one) it makes me incredibly sad to see so much hatred spawn from something which was OBVIOUS would happen.  
> I for one absolutely love the anime name. "Ren" is actually my favorite male Japanese name, I have an OC named Ren, and Amamiya flows off the tongue so easily.  
> But that doesn't matter. It's fine to not like the anime name. It's fine to prefer Akira Kurusu and keep using that name in fics. But threatening others and crying like babies over this as well as insulting those who actually dare to stand up and defend the name is NOT okay. It feels incredibly discouraging, especially because I love this name so much and it isn't gonna change a thing.  
> Okay, done. Don't worry, the fic isn't that ranty. It's just a stupid little something which I couldn't get out of my head (not very well written either whoops...). Enjoy, and please don't take what I said personally! :)

“Kurusu-kun.”

Ren suppressed a yawn. It was an early Autumn Monday; the birds were chirping and the sun was just starting to show, dyeing the Shujin classroom in a warm orange.

“Kurusu-kun?”

Mildly bored, he tapped his pen on the table. He could never fascinate himself for Math class; he did as well as he could, but in the last time they were only endlessly repeating the same old stuff (which he already had long forgotten about – who memorized things they learned two years ago? He surely didn't). So he was-

“Kurusu-kun!”

Ren flinched when his Math teacher bumped a fist onto his table to get his attention. He looked at him in confusion, and only then he noticed the entire class was staring at him, a few holding back laughter. “What is the answer to question c?”, his teacher said in a slow, overly patient tone while glaring daggers at him.

Frowning, Ren gave the correct answer. The teacher sent him a last glare, before turning back to the blackboard. _Weird._

* * *

“Hey dude, what was that all about?” Ren slowly chewed on a sushi, blinking at Ryuji who had pulled over a chair and sat in front of him. 

“What do you mean?”

“What could I possibly mean? The way you completely ignored the teach after being called, duh! Not like you at all, man. You even knew the right answer...” Ren frowned yet again, putting down his chopsticks.

“He didn't call for me.” Ryuji raised an eyebrow while inconspicuously (conspicuously) snatching a maki out of his bento.

“You sure you're okay, Akira?” His frown deepened.

“Who's Akira?” For a blessed moment, it was silent. Then-

Ryuji broke out into content laughter, causing a few heads to turn. “Man, looks like you really hit your head somewhere! C'mon, enough already, imma die- whoa”, he wheezed, trying to catch his breath. It was only when he noticed Ren's completely blank stare that he managed to calm himself down, wiping a few tears. “Okay, sorry. So, what's this all about, Akira?”

“Ryuji...” - “What?!” - “Are you making fun of me?” The blond gaped at him, now a bit set off.

“What're you talking about? You're the one acting weird! If you're name's not Akira then what is it?”

“Ren”, he bluntly said, taking a nip from his soda. Now it was Ryuji's turn to frown.

“Dude. I literally never heard that name before.” - “Ryuji, we've known each other for over half a year now.” - “I know, and you're Akira Kurusu!” Ren was once again thankful for his ability to suppress his annoyance. Instead, the last word caught his attention. He tilted his head, thinking.

“Kurusu... sensei called me that too.” - “Well, duh! It's your name!”

“No. My name is Ren Amamiya.” He scowled when his best friend broke into a laughing fit yet again.

“What kinda name is that?! Sounds so lame! 'Amamiya' more like mamma mia!”

“It's _my_ name”, Ren snapped - now really annoyed -, surprising Ryuji.

“Woah, calm down dude. It's not like you to get so worked up. Just- drop the games and let's go get somethin' more to eat, okay?”

“I'm not playing any 'games', Ryuji”, Ren deadpanned.

“Well, I'm not either, so-”

 

“What's going on here?” Both boys turned their heads when a third voice joined their conversation.

“Ann!” Ann stopped in front of them, raising an eyebrow at how relieved the blond looked. “Hey Ann, who's this?” He pointed at Ren who scowled at him. Her eyebrow wandered even higher.

“Excuse me?” - “Just say his name, 'kay?!” She rolled her eyes, dropping her bag and pulling over a chair to sit with them.

“Well, uh... Ren?” Relieved, Ren leaned back, but immediately tensed up again when he heard Ryuji's confused groan.

“This isn't funny, you guys!”

“What are you even talking about?” Ann looked just as confused as Ryuji felt.

“This dude's name. It's Akira. Akira Kurusu.” The blond girl stared at him for a few seconds, before letting out a short laugh. “What kind of name is that?” Now Ryuji looked offended.

“ _His_ name!”

“No it's not”, Ren murmured, but neither of the blonds seemed to take notice of him.

“What? Sorry Ryuji, but whatever stupid prank it is you're pulling this time, it isn't funny. At least think of a decent name! 'Kurusu' is so hard to pronounce...” She pronounced the name with her English accent, scoffing at how unnatural it sounded. Ryuji took a deep breath. He didn't look as sure of himself anymore.

“But... the teach called him that too. And I never heard the name Ren before, and I've known this dude for a whole while now, too!” - “Give it up Ryuji, you're not fooling anyone.”

“Well, it's true sensei said the name too”, Ren interrupted, voice raised to finally get his friends' attention. Both turned to face him, looking equally startled, almost tickling a smirk out of him. “Considering Ryuji's... reputation, I doubt he'd drag a teacher into a prank... so maybe we should investigate this some more?”

* * *

After a few more heated debates over “how it could be possible to forget a name” and “we shouldn't make a fuss over such an obvious prank, just admit you're pulling us Ryuji”, they settled on searching for more of Ren's friends and ask what the black haired boy was called in their minds. The first one they came across was Makoto, obviously in a hurry judging by her quick steps and the amount of documents she was carrying. Her eyes lit up in recognition when she saw them, but it didn't seem like she would stop for them, so Ryuji jumped into her way, effectively...

...upsetting her.

“Get out of the way, Ryuji! I have work to do”, she snapped, and Ren immediately felt bad. She usually wasn't so quick to get annoyed, so she really had to be busy.  
“Just a second, Makoto.” Ann clapped her hands together in front of her chest, looking pleadently at the student council president. “What's Re- this guy's name?” Makoto's gaze snapped over to Ren, who sheepishly scratched the back of his head with one hand.

“Is this supposed to be a joke?” - “Please just answer this, Makoto! It's uh... very important.” Sighing, Makoto leaned against the wall, fiddling with the documents. “Fine. Well... Akira. There, satisfied?” Nodding quickly, the three second year students rushed off, leaving behind a very confused Makoto.

* * *

"This is nuts”, Ann announced after they had left Shujin, speaking all of their minds. “I'd get it if Ryuji pulled a stupid prank like this, but Makoto...?”

“Hey!”, Ryuji exclaimed.

“Yeah”, Ren agreed thoughtful, earning him an angry stare from his best friend. He shot him a quick smile before a thoughtful expression crossed his face.

“It's too early to jump to conclusions”, Ann said. “Let's look for Yusuke, Haru and Futaba-chan next.”

* * *

The talks with their other friends didn't help much. In fact, it had served to confuse them even more. While both Yusuke and Haru had greeted Ren with 'Akira' so they didn't even have to ask them, Futaba had reacted very interested after she had proclaimed she never heard of an 'Akira Kurusu' before. It had been... a bit hard to get rid of her again.

“I'm living with him, okay! Of course I know his name. But this is really spicy stuff, you guys! I'll look it up online! I could also run some scans in the metaverse to see if...”

* * *

“This. Is. Nuts!” Ann and Ryuji groaned simultaneously.

“How can this be?! I mean, how can it be that we all...” Ryuji obviously struggled to find the right words, giving up quickly and settling for kicking against a close bench in frustration.

“You could always just call him Ren since that's, y'know, his name?” Ann sighed. “He himself said so. Right, Ren?” Ren nodded quietly when she looked at him expectantly.

“What? No way! I've been calling him Akira the entire year, I can't just suddenly start calling him something different just because it's his canon name! Besides, that name sucks!”

“Ryuji! That's rude!” When the two started bickering again, Ren directed his attention towards the crowd. They had retreated to the mall after it had started raining heavily.

They sat in silence for a while before Ann finally spoke all their minds.

“So... think this has anything to do with the metaverse?” Ren closed his eyes.

“Well... I thought that too already. But, why would the metaverse influence this dude's name?”

“We know so little about the metaverse, everything is possible.” Ren looked down onto his lap.

“Ah, Morgana.” Reaching down to scratch the not-cat behind his ears, he noticed Ryuji gaping at Morgana.

“Hey you, cat! Where the eff have you been the entire time?!” Licking his paw, Morgana stretched before pawing at Ren's pants to make it more comfortable.

“I was napping in Ren's bag, obviously. And I'm not a cat!”

“So you don't know anything about this either, Morgana?” Morgana's eyes lit up when he looked up at Ann, purring.

“Lady Ann! I am afraid not. But worry not, I will definitely find a way to clear up this case-”

“Shut it, Morgana! At this rate we're never gonna clear up this 'case' and Akira'll be stuck getting called two different names for the rest of his life!”

“A case, you say?” A tingling sensation went down Ren's spine when he turned around to find himself faced with Akechi.

“Wha- Akechi?! The hell are you doing here?”

“Ah, if it isn't Sakamoto-kun. Thank you again for the other day.”* Flushing, Ryuji opened his mouth, slammed it shut again, crossed his arms and looked away. Ann snickered.

“What's this what's this? Flustered, are we? What happened?”

“N-nothing important!” Chuckling, Akechi shifted his weight to his left leg. “What do you want anyway?!”

“Me? Oh, I was just taking a stroll around here when I saw Akira-kun's head in the crowd. I wanted to thank him for the great coffee he brewed me a few days ago, so I followed him. Then I heard you talking about a case, which got me interested.” Ann groaned and Ren hesitantly played with a hair string.

“Not you too.” Akechi blinked.

“Pardon me?”

“It's nothing of your concern! Get lost already!”, Ryuji snapped. Ann and Ren exchanged a glance.

“Well, he _is_ a detective. Maybe he can help us”, she said in a low voice.

“What?! You can't be serious!” - “Ryuji...” Ryuji turned to Ren and bit his lip when he noticed his friend's solemn face. This entire ordeal seemed to affect him more than the blond had considered...

Sighing, he sat down on the bench he had almost knocked over earlier and crossed his arms behind his head. “Fine. Do what you want. But don't blame me later if he uses it to blackmail you or somethin'.” - “Ryuji!!” Akechi chuckled quietly at the two fighting blonds, earning him a questioning glance from Ren.

“It's never boring with your friends around, it is”, he said with a wink. Ren shrugged nonchalantly.

“I guess so.”

* * *

“Okay. Let me sum this up. Starting today, Akira-kun as well as a few of your friends and acquaintances suddenly started calling him Ren Amamiya, but from Akira-kun's and those friends' perspective others - me included - suddenly call him Akira Kurusu?”

“Yep.”  
“And now you don't know which one the real name is?”

“Well, it's obviously Ren since he himself uses that name!” Akechi tilted his head, stroking his chin.

“Hmm. This is really strange, though. I am a hundred percent positive I have never heard the name Ren Amamiya before, and I have interacted with him quite a few times ever since I first got to know him.”  
“Looked through his records and investigated him you mean”, Ryuji murmured, earning him an elbow into the side from Ann.

“Well, have you tried checking his student ID?”

…

…..

….......

“Uhm”, Ann unintelligently said. Akechi raised an eyebrow.

“What, you haven't?” Ignoring the flusteredness of his friends, Ren pulled out his ID, studying it before holding it out so the others could see it.

 

“ _Ren Amamiya”_

 

“What?! B-but!” Ryuji stared at it in disbelieve. “How is this possible?! You said it yourself Akechi, his name is Akira!” Akechi was scrolling through his phone with a thoughtful frown on his face.

“Hmm... It says 'Ren Amamiya' in all of his records too. Strange.”

“Strange?! That's all you have to say?! This is an emergency!”

“Why?”

Ryuji's head whipped around at Ren's question. The black haired boy was blinking at him with the most innocent expression on his face. “W-what why?”

“Why is it an emergency? It's just a name.”

“W-well, this is weird! It isn't normal that names just change!”

“I guess so, but my name never changed. It was always Ren. Maybe you just didn't know it before.” Groaning, Ryuji pulled on his short hair.

“This doesn't make any effing sense! Why would anyone change this dude's name?! Akira Kurusu sounds great! Way better than Len mamma mia!”

“Well, at least his name is pronounceable!”, Ann snapped. “'Akira' sounds like a female's name and 'Kurusu' just looks ugly and is hard to pronounce in any language outside of Japanese!”

“But I've been using that name for months! I'm used to it!”

“Then you'll just have to get used to the real name!”

“Akira is his real name!”

“It isn't!”

“It is! It's all I've ever known until now!”

“ENOUGH.” Startled, Ann and Ryuji turned to face Ren, who looked at them in annoyance.

“Really guys, is it really that important?”  
“Are you kidding me dude?! Of course it is! Your name just changed!”

“Excuse me if this sounds rude, but to me it seems like you are more upset about the name itself and having to adjust to a new one rather than the fact that it is really weird for a name to just change.” Ryuji glared at Akechi.

“What's with you?! I thought you know him as Akira too!” Akechi tilted his head.

“I do, but I like the name Ren too. Since it seems to be his canon name, I'll just have to adjust to it. It happened many times before that I didn't like something at first but after getting used to it stopped minding it.” Scowling, Ryuji crossed his arms and huffed.

“Well, I'm not gonna call him anything but Akira.”

“Fine.” Ryuji blinked at Ren, who returned his stare with a tired face. “Just call me what you want, okay? It's just a name. I really don't care. Just, stop fighting like children who don't like the new toy their mother gifted them. My name never was Akira Kurusu, that's just the name the mangaka came up with, but if you want to call me that just do it while keeping that in mind. And _don't_ insult my real name okay, that's rude.” With that, he swiftly stood and disappeared into the crowd, leaving behind three speechless high school students.

 

* * *

 

“....what the eff is he talking about Akechi?”

“...I really don't know Sakamoto-kun. But this unpredictable behavior of his is part of what makes him so interesting, no?”

“I have a headache now, great...”

 

_and so the day ended without a real conclusion, the end (until the anime comes out, anyway)_

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> *small reference to my P5 oneshot "envy"  
> Ren breaks the fourth wall, everyone is disatisfied; just like in the real fandom. Ahaha, well, thank you for reading. I personally am going to use the name Ren Amamiya from now on because, as I said, I really like it.  
> Akira Kurusu is the name of the character the mangaka came up with, Ren Amamiya is the name of the anime protag we're gonna meet soon and probably also the name they'll use in the spin offs. That's just how it is. Don't worry that much about it. You'll get used to it quicker than you think, and then it won't bother you anymore. ^^ And even if not, there are also still authors out there who call Yu Souji, so there's that.  
> tumblr: xxemitsuxx (please don't send me anon hate over this, thank you. feel free to discuss with me otherwise!)


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